Under Milk Wood,that much loved classic by Dylan Thomas, is about to have a new season at the Sydney Theatre Company. But what you may not know about this play is just how close it came to never being written.

The play is set in the imaginary Welsh town of Llareggub, which actually is 'bugger all' spelt backwards. In it we meet the townsfolk and enter their houses, bedrooms and dreams.

We meet Mr Pugh who fantasises about poisoning his poisonous wife; Captain Cat who hears the voice of his dead love whenever he shuts his eyes; Willy Nilly the nosy local postman, Mr Dai Bread and his two wives, the lovely school teacher, Miss Gossamer, who longingly watches Sinbad the Sailor; and Mr Beyon, a butcher who mercilessly teases his wife about the origins of his choice cuts.

So, today on Creative Instinct we present a play about a play. It's a dramatisation, by Lyn Gallacher, of a book by BBC producer Douglas Cleverdon called The Growth of Milk Wood.